225: Deep Water

In an instant, the entire river surface seemed to be violently stirred by an invisible giant hand, suddenly becoming turbulent and chaotic.

Large and small whirlpools even formed in the very center of the river, and countless fish fled frantically.

“What’s going on?!”

Ding Xinyang cried out in horror.

Lu Chuan and He Jingrui simultaneously looked up, and despite the thick river water, they could still “feel” that the crack in the sky had undergone a drastic change!

[00:00:00]

The countdown reached zero!

The “wind of heaven and earth” crack in the sky suddenly expanded and tore open at this moment!

It was as if a giant, pitch-black eye had suddenly opened above the Demon City!

Boom—!!!

Accompanied by a loud noise, countless black tendrils, like a tsunami, surged out from within the crack, carrying a suffocating momentum, and poured madly into the human world!

The invasion of exotic beasts had finally erupted!

At this moment, underwater, the protective shield Lu Chuan had exchanged for flickered violently, emitting a buzzing sound of being overloaded!

[Host, please note, the protective shield is under high-intensity unknown energy impact, structural stability has decreased by 37%! Estimated duration is significantly shortened!]

The system’s prompt sound urgently rang in Lu Chuan’s mind.

“Not good!”

Lu Chuan’s expression changed.

“The impact is too strong, the protective shield can’t hold much longer! Speed up!”

The three were terrified, no longer caring about concealment, and swam desperately towards what they believed to be a safe direction.

However, misfortunes never come singly.

In the violently churning, energy-chaotic river water, a dozen pairs of eerie green eyes, filled with greed and ferocity, suddenly lit up in the originally murky waters.

These strange, scaled and armored creatures had, at some unknown time, silently surrounded them.

Their outlines were indistinct in the murky water, twisted and hideous, exuding the cold killing intent unique to aquatic creatures.

Blocked by unknown monsters ahead, and with the protective shield about to fail behind them… By the time Lu Chuan and his two companions reacted, they were already instantly trapped in a predicament.

Lu Chuan’s eyes narrowed, his mind rapidly calculating the few appetite coins he had left and the options available for exchange in the system, while shouting at He Jingrui:

“He Jingrui, prepare for battle! Old Ding, stick close to me!”

Their plan to escape the Demon City had just begun when it was completely disrupted by this sudden drastic change in the wind of heaven and earth.

The true test of life and death had silently arrived.

Just as they struggled to stabilize themselves and tried to reorient, the dozen pairs of eerie green lights in the churning, murky water ahead suddenly flared up and approached at an extremely fast speed.

Splash!

A dark shadow suddenly broke through the murky water curtain, launching the first attack!

It was a gigantic mutated catfish, its skin a sickly grayish-white, covered in pustules and bone spurs, its mouth split open to an incredible degree, revealing layers of sharp teeth like a file.

Its massive body, carrying a foul-smelling current, slammed hard into the protective shield!

Bang!

A muffled impact sound spread underwater.

The protective shield flickered violently, and ripples even spread across its surface.

The three inside felt as if they had been struck by a heavy hammer, their blood and qi churning.

“Get lost!”

He Jingrui roared, and although his strength and wide-ranging punches and kicks were greatly restricted underwater, his battle instincts remained.

He threw a fierce punch through the protective shield, and the condensed punch force even stirred up a wave of water through the energy membrane, slamming hard into the mutated catfish’s head.

The catfish cried out in pain with a silent hiss, twisting its body and retreating a few meters, but more eerie green lights were already closing in from all directions.

Using the faint glow and water disturbance from the creature during their brief contact, they finally saw the full appearance of their attackers.

It was more than just mutated catfish!

There were also giant softshell turtles covered in moss and metal shards, but their turtle heads resembled enlarged, rotting human heads, with green light glowing in their eyes.

There were monsters with abnormally developed arthropod limbs, like giant dragonflies, their mouthparts constantly opening and closing.

There were humanoid monsters seemingly made of Mud Monster and water weeds, with no facial features, only two empty sockets, exuding a soul-stealing chill.

And some luminous bodies resembling floating jellyfish, but covered in tentacles and spikes… They varied in form, but without exception, they were filled with greed, hunger, and ferocity, locking onto the three delicious flesh-and-blood targets within the protective shield.

“It’s over… So many…”

Ding Xinyang closed his eyes in despair, his body trembling like a sieve.

“The interdimensional rift hasn’t fully opened yet, these definitely aren’t exotic beasts. Could these be… ‘more terrifying things’ that the Little devils in the apartment mentioned? Damn Little devils!”

Lu Chuan’s face was grim, his mind rapidly calculating.

The protective shield absolutely could not withstand the continuous attacks of so many monsters; he had very few appetite coins left. Exchanging for offensive skills might take care of one or two, but against an encirclement of this number, it would undoubtedly be a drop in the bucket.

“We can’t stay here and take a beating! Charge!”

Lu Chuan made a decisive decision, directing their path.

“He Jingrui, 11 o’clock direction, the gap between that giant softshell turtle and the Mud Monster is the largest! I’ll count to three, and we’ll all kick off together and charge through!”

“Okay!”

He Jingrui’s eyes sharpened, his muscles tensing instantly.

“Three!”

More monsters lunged forward, sharp claws, fangs, corrosive slime… Various attacks rained down on the protective shield.

The protective shield flickered madly, and alarms blared in Lu Chuan’s mind!

[Stability decreased to 55%!]

[Estimated remaining time 18 minutes!]

“Two!”

“One! Charge!”

Lu Chuan and He Jingrui simultaneously used all their strength, kicking back hard against the water with their feet.

Ding Xinyang was also dragged forward by them.

The transparent protective shield, like a clumsy torpedo, surged towards the fleeting gap.

A mutated dragonfly trying to block them was punched away by He Jingrui through the shield, and the tentacles of another glowing jellyfish wrapped around them, but were repelled by the electric net Lu Chuan had again exchanged for and attached to the surface of the protective shield.

Charge! Charge! Charge!

Only this one thought remained in their minds!

Just as they were about to break out of the encirclement—

Suddenly, the human-headed giant softshell turtle to their front-side, which had been relatively still and carried a giant shell covered in moss and metal, abruptly twisted its head 180 degrees. Its rotting eyes fixed on Lu Chuan, who was leading the charge.

Its twisted human-like mouth suddenly opened; no sound was emitted, but an extremely cold, foul mental shockwave, like a tangible black current, instantly penetrated the protective shield.

The target of this attack was exceptionally clear and extremely concentrated, almost ignoring most of the protective shield’s weakening effect on energy impacts.

Lu Chuan bore the brunt of it!

He felt his vision go black, his brain felt as if countless icy needles were piercing it, and as if he had been stuffed into rotting Mud Monster, and emotions of suffocation, coldness, and despair instantly overwhelmed him.

All the strength in his body seemed to be drained, and his movements instantly stiffened.